Drea Wheeler

Andrea "Drea" Wheeler is a contestant from Survivor 42.^[2]

Drea's proactive approach to the game allowed her to accumulate several advantages and construct a web of relationships that let her stay in the driver's seat until the merge, when her tribemates began to realize her threat level. After using her Hidden Immunity Idol to save herself at the Double Elimination, she planned on using her Knowledge is Power advantage to take Mike Turner's idol. However, Drea's ill-advised decision to tell Omar Zaheer about her advantage caused her plan to leak, which allowed Mike to foil the plan and succeed in eliminating her at the final seven.

Profile[]

Retrieved from CBS.com

Age: 35
Hometown: San Antonio, TX
Current Residence: Montreal, Quebec
Occupation: Fitness Consultant
Favorite Hobbies: Working out and any kind of charity work
3 Words to Describe You: Resilient, ambitious and caring
Pet Peeve: Dishonest people
What is the accomplishment you are most proud of? Becoming an All-American Track Runner. If you are or ever have been a competitive athlete, you know the dedication, sacrifice, sweat and tears it takes to succeed. Every time I question my ability to make something happen, I look back at the girl who ran track and remember I was, and still am, that person!
What is something we would never know from looking at you? I have a fear of death. I come off as super confident and strong, which I am, but deep down, I do fear the end. I think it stems from losing some very important people in my life at a young age. However, this fear doesn't cripple me; it gives me the perspective to live every day to the fullest.
Who is your hero and why? My mom! As I get older, I understand how much she gave up in having me and my older sister before the age of 18. I never wanted for anything and that is because my mom worked multiple jobs to ensure that never happened. When my Pops died and left her with 5 kids, she kept going and got me into university with a full scholarship. She is the bomb dot com.
Which past Survivor will you play the game most like? Kelley Wentworth. She contributes to her team and sets up alliances while still being a competitor in the competitions.
Why do you believe you can be the Sole Survivor? I believe my personality, physical strength and ability to manipulate people to do what I want will help me get to the final. I am able to see where different personalities fit in my life and utilize them when it fits.^[3]

Survivor[]

Drea immediately obtained one of the Advantage Amulets along with Lindsay Dolashewich of Taku and Hai Giang of Vati, which increased in power the fewer of them were left in the game, incentivizing the trio to target each other later in the game. On Ika, Drea's original alliance consisted of the older members Romeo Escobar and Rocksroy Bailey. At the first summit of the season, Drea risked her vote, a risk that paid off because Jenny Kim protected her vote. Ika struggled in the first Immunity Challenge, and although Drea was not impressed with Rocksroy's performance and considered voting him out, she stuck with the alliance and took out Zach Wurtenberger instead. Drea made a bold move revealing her Extra Vote to Tori Meehan and Swati Goel while suggesting they form a women's alliance. Swati was intimidated by Drea's increasing power, instead wanting to target her. It would be later revealed that Swati made conflicting alliances with every member of Ika, so while Tori's scheming got on Drea's nerves, she and Romeo felt Swati was the bigger threat and voted her out on Day 9. Drea approached the merge with two loyal allies in Romeo and Rocksroy, with Tori being a flight risk looking for a way out. Drea accumulated her fourth advantage shortly before the merge, this time adding Knowledge is Power to her arsenal while activating her Hidden Immunity Idol.

Because Rocksroy smashed the Hourglass, Drea was safe from Day 14's Tribal Council. At this stage of the game, Drea abandoned Romeo and Tori, instead opting to work with Rocksroy, Hai, Mike Turner, and the core of the Taku tribe in a majority alliance. After being left out of Lydia Meredith's blindside, Romeo felt vulnerable and scrambled to stay alive. Drea felt Romeo was acting shady, but ultimately spared him at the expense of Chanelle Howell. Drea was put in a difficult position during the Double Elimination as her group consisted of three original Taku members Lindsay, Jonathan Young, and Maryanne Oketch along with Tori. Jonathan wanted to flush Drea's idol, but Tori caught wind of this plan and alerted Drea. Upon walking into Tribal Council, Drea noticed Rocksroy on the jury, and felt there was a pattern of African-American players being voted out subconsciously. This left no choice in Drea's mind other than to play her idol, and Maryanne did likewise. Tori would be targeted by default and left the game.

Although the three amulet holders worked well together up until the final eight, Lindsay and Drea grew weary of Hai's aggressive gameplay. Voting out Hai upgraded their amulet and established a final five agreement along with Omar, Mike, and Jonathan, however this deal was a facade made by Mike to make Drea comfortable. Drea noticed she was in trouble and confided in Omar about her Knowledge is Power advantage, but this information gave Omar the time and ammunition needed to work around the advantage. At Tribal Council, when Drea asked Mike if he had an idol, Mike said no, as he gave it to Omar thirty minutes before leaving camp. Drea used her Extra Vote against Mike, but it was not enough as she was still voted out 5-3, finishing in 7th place and becoming the fifth juror.

At the Final Tribal Council, Drea contributed to Maryanne's 7-1-0 win over Mike and Romeo respectively.

Episode	Tribe Affiliation	Challenge	Challenge Type	Sit-Out?	Result
1	Ika	Marooning	Reward	No	Won
1		Forty Two	Immunity	No	Lost
2		Can't Find My Way Home	Reward/Immunity	No	2nd
3		Spiral Architect	Reward/Immunity	No	2nd
4		Tangled Up Sled Slide	Reward	No	Lost
4		Beyond the Tuna	Immunity	No	Lost
5		Ramplified	Reward/Immunity	No	1st
Tribes Disbanded, Day 12
6	None	Rolling Stones	Reward/Immunity	No	Lost¹
7	None	A Bit Tipsy	Immunity	Yes	Lost
Tribes Merged, Night 14
8	Kula Kula	Basket Case	Reward	Yes	Lost
8		Can't Buoy Me Love	Immunity	Yes²	Lost
9		Bermuda Triangles Case	Reward/Immunity		Shared³
10		Walk This Way	Reward		Lost
10		Bow Diddley	Immunity		Lost
11		Uncomfortably Numb	Immunity	Yes	Lost
Voted Out, Day 21
Notes: ^1 The unchosen sit-out from the challenge (Rocksroy) was exiled. There, he was given an hourglass which he may choose to break to strip the winning team of their immunity, transferring it to the losing team and himself. Rocksroy broke the hourglass and Drea was given immunity. ^2 Drea elected to sit out of the challenge to help her tribe win a supply of rice. ^3 The challenge was played for team reward and individual immunity, with the last person standing winning reward for their team. Drea did not win immunity, but was on the team that won the reward.

Episode	Drea's Votes	Voted Against Drea
1	Zach	-
2	Ika Tribe Immune
3	Ika Tribe Immune
4	Swati	-
5	Ika Tribe Immune
7	Lydia	Individual Immunity
8	Chanelle	-
9	Tori	-¹
10	Hai	-
11	Mike + Mike²	Jonathan, Lindsay, Maryanne, Mike, Omar
Voted Out, Day 21
Voted for Sole Survivor	Maryanne

^1 In "Game of Chicken", Drea used a Hidden Immunity Idol before the vote, making her ineligible to receive votes.
^2 In "Battle Royale", Drea used an Extra Vote advantage, allowing her to vote twice at Tribal Council.

Post-Survivor[]

On October 9, 2022, Drea announced her pregnancy on Instagram.^[4]
- Drea gave birth to her baby girl on February 11, 2023.^[5]
On March 30, 2023, Drea appeared in a promotional social media post for Survivor Québec (2023).^[6]

Trivia[]

Drea is the first contestant to reside in Quebec at the time of filming.
Drea is the first U.S. citizen to reside in Canada at the time of filming.
Drea is the first legally blind contestant on the show, being blind in her right eye.^[7]
Drea is allergic to coconuts and could not eat them with her tribemates.^[8]
Drea is the first contestant to possess four unique advantages at the same time, namely an Advantage Amulet, an Extra Vote, a Hidden Immunity Idol, and the Knowledge is Power advantage.
- Drea is the first woman to open multiple Beware Advantages and the first contestant to activate multiple Beware Advantages.
Drea is one of six Black women to have found a Hidden Immunity Idol, along with Taj Johnson-George, NaOnka Mixon, Sabrina Thompson, Shan Smith, and Maryanne Oketch.
- Drea and Maryanne are the first two Black women to find and play an idol.
Drea and Maryanne are the first women to play Hidden Immunity Idols before the votes are cast.
Drea has sat out of the most post-merge challenges of any contestant, with 3.
Drea is one of only three people to say the phrase "the tribe has spoken" in place of Jeff after being voted out, the others being Cirie Fields in Game Changers and Jonathan Young in 42.
As announced on the Survivor Twitter page, Australian pop singer Sia awarded Drea $100,000 "for being a good person" following the conclusion of Survivor 42.^[9]